TIMMINS – Kristen Kornell’s quest for gold came up just short during Day 1 of the 2017 OFSAA Nordic Championships on Tuesday.
But the École secondaire catholique Thériault student used her knowledge of the trails on her home Porcupine Ski Runners course to find a silver lining.
Kornell skied her way to a second place finish in the Junior Girls four-kilometre event, finishing the race in a time of 0:12:18.0 — just off the pace set by gold medal winner Lila Yuhasz-Bell, from Owen Sound District Secondary School.
Yuhasz-Bell completed the course in a time of 0:12:12.1.
“It felt pretty good to finish second,” Kornell said.
Since all of Tuesday’s races featured staggered starts, the Thériault student didn’t have any idea how she was doing against the field until the race was over.
“It is so much harder,” she said.
“The only way you can tell is if you are passing more people. Otherwise you have to wait until the end when you get to see the results.”
By all accounts, the trails at the Porcupine Ski Runners were in excellent shape Tuesday and presented the athletes with plenty of challenges.
“There was this one hill, called Birdfeeder Hill, and after that it does not look like it continues uphill, but it does,” Kornell said.
“That was probably the most challenging part for me today.”
Unlike the majority of the skiers taking part in Day 1 of the OFSAA Nordic Championships, Kornell knows the trails at the Porcupine Ski Runners facility like the back of her hand.
“I have been practising on this course for a long time,” she said.
“I have skied it so many times, I know all the little corners and all the little different parts to watch out for. All the other girls from out of town might not know all the little secrets around the course.”
Heading into the OFSAA Nordic Championships, Kornell has set a realistic goal for herself.
“I was hoping to finish in the Top 5, for sure,” she said.
“I didn’t really know what the competition was going to be like, but I am pretty happy with my result.”
It goes without saying, Kornell’s 2017 OFSAA was much better than her first trip to the provincial high school championships in 2016.
“I didn’t even make it to the race,” she said.
“I was very sick. This year, I got sick this past weekend, but I was lucky enough that by the time today rolled around I was feeling much better.”
This is Kornell’s final year of Junior Girls competition, but she hopes to return to OFSAA in 2018 in the Senior Girls Division.
“I am just going to have to keep on training hard,” she said.
“Thanks to Thériault, I have a really good running base for cross-country. That really helps me out during the off season.”
Colleen Beck, also from Owen Sound District Secondary School, finished the event in a time of 0:12:21.0 to claim the bronze medal.
Another Thériault skier, Jennifer Perreault, finished in 80th place, in a time of 0:16:15.2.
And Englehart High School’s Molly Malette finished in 135th place, in a time of 0:19:28.5.
In the Junior Boys Division, Tyler Allan, of Ashbury College captured the gold medal, finishing the five-kilometre course in a time of 0:13:00.3.
The silver medal went to Nick Poole, of Parry Sound High School, who finished second in a time of 0:13:36.8, while Cameron Pouw, of Glebe Collegiate Institute, was third in a time of 0:13:46.0, to pick up the bronze medal.
The top local skier was Vincent Chenier, of Thériault, who finished in 96th in a time of 0:18:26.1.
Lucas Despres, of École secondaire catholique Sainte-Marie, was 108th in a time of 0:18:53.5, while his teammate, Christian Lefebvre was 118th in a time of 0:19:26.2.
Alex Palubiskie, of Thériault finished in 121st place in a time of 0:19:58.4.
Meanwhile, Sainte-Marie’s Simon Nolet was 125th in a time of 0:22:06.4.
In the Senior Girls Division, Olivia Westbrooke, of Collingwood Collegiate Institute won the gold medal, finishing the five-kilometre course in a time of 0:15:01.8.
Natasia Varieur, of Huntsville High School, finished second in a time of 0:15:07.9 to capture the silver medal, while Shaylynn Loewen, of Parry Sound High School, finished third in a time of 0:15:15.5 to take the bronze medal.
Hannah Story-Korman, of Timiskaming District Secondary School, was the top local skier, finishing eighth in a time of 0:15:48.2.
Thériault’s Isaac Rondeau-McNair cracked the Top 10 in the Senior Boys Division, but he had to settle for a seventh-place ribbon after finishing the 7.5-kilometre course in a time of 0:20:38.8.
Alec MacLean, of Eastview Secondary School, won the gold medal, finishing the race in a time of 0:19:21.0.
The silver medal went to Pierre Grall-Johnson, of Glebe Collegiate Institute, who completed the course in a time of 0:19:24.0, while the bronze medal was captured by Oliver Grocott, of the University of Toronto Schools, in a time of 0:19:35.7.
Despite falling short of the podium, Rondeau-McNair was pleased with his race on Tuesday.
“My goal was to finish in the Top 6,” he said.
“The Top 8 competitors all get ribbons (other than the Top 3, who receive medals).”
This was Rondeau-McNair’s fourth and perhaps final OFSAA Nordic Championships.
“When I was in Grade 10, I tied for seventh place and that’s where I finished today,” he said.
“So, yes. This is my best performance of the four.”
Like Kornell, Rondeau-McNair found it hard to know how well he was doing as Tuesday’s race progressed.
“It is helpful when you have people around you who are fast,” he said.
“Then, you can kind of judge how you are doing, but in big race like this, it is really hard to know until the results come in. It is a mental race, pretty much.”
Competitors in the Senior Boys Division were the last to take to the trails on Tuesday and they also skied the longest race.
“The last 2.5 kilometres were the hardest for me today,” Rondeau-McNair said.
“The hills really start coming on you quickly and you don’t get a chance for much rest in between.”
Weather conditions for Tuesday’s races was close to ideal.
“It was really good and the snow was really fast,” Rondeau-McNair said.
“It was getting a bit warm by the end of the day, but overall conditions were really good.”
The Timmins skier is quite familiar with all of the competitors who finished in the Top 10 on Tuesday.
“Every year, we race against each other four or five times,” Rondeau-McNair said.
“We know each other pretty well.”
He feels skiing on the trails at the Porcupine Ski Runners facility was an advantage for all the Timmins athletes.
“I ski here all winter, pretty much six times a week,” Rondeau-McNair said.
“During racing season it is harder to do that because we are travelling a lot.”
Like Kornell, Rondeau-McNair also runs cross-country as part of the powerful Thériault team.
“I also do track and field during spring, summer and fall,” he said.
“Also, during the summer, I do a lot of roller skiing on pavement to train for cross-country skiing.”
If Rondeau-McNair comes back for an extra year of high school, he will attempt to take part in a fifth OFSAA Nordic Championship, but if he moves on to pursue his post-secondary education it will likely spell an end to his competitive cross-country skiing.
“I am hoping to go to a school in Toronto, but they don’t get much snow there,” he said.
Day 1 of OFSAA also featured the Para-Nordic events, with Caelan Flannigan, of Timiskaming District Secondary School winning the Sit Boys 2.5-kilometre event in a time of 0:12:05.3.
In the Stand Boys 2.5-kilometre event, Mark Cheek, of Huntsville High School finished first in a time of 0:10:03.4; followed by Hudson Booth, of Almaguin Highlands Secondary School, in a time of 0:11:48.0 and Rory McDonald, of Mayfield Secondary School, in a time of 0:14:56.2.
Audreanne Soenens, of Macdonald Cartier, won the Stand Girls 2.5-kilometre event in a time of 0:14:53.9, followed by Clarista Ardiel, of Almaguin Highlands Secondary School, in a time of, 0:16:52.7.
OFSAA action will continue on the Porcupine Ski Runners trails Wednesday, with the team competitions being held.
GALLERY: Glebe garners gold
